The difference?

This is a discussion on The difference? within the Defensive Ammunition & Ballistics forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; I had purchased a box of 155grn Federal Hydra-shok's in .40 sw a while back and have used them mostly at the range for break ...

The difference?

I had purchased a box of 155grn Federal Hydra-shok's in .40 sw a while back and have used them mostly at the range for break in ammo for my new G23. I was back on the ammo to go site and looking at the .40 they had and I got to wondering, What is the difference between Federal LE Tactical Bonded HP, Federal LE Tactical HST, Federal LE Tactical Hydra-shok and Federal Le Tactical Hi-shok? Does a 300 pound crack head really care? I am sure they all have different performance, but is a 25 dollar box of hydra-shok better then a 20 dollar box of Hi-shok? Every penny is tight now. Both are 50 rounders

Out of all you mentioned the HST's are Federal's newest offering and probably offer the most expansion. Personally in my testing of the Hi Shok, some didn't expand very well. I would spend a few dollors more and get the HST's. The Hydra Shoks are good but not my favorite. They are pretty much a Hi Shok with a post in the middle.

The HST ammo is the newest design. It's probably the best defense ammo on the market right now. Expands larger than any other out there. The Bonded ammo is basically a Gold Dot with Federal's name on the packaging and casing. I know it's not the same design, but it has the same functionality and similar results in testing. It's good, but HST is better if you can get it.

This report goes back to 1997. Some of the newer and more advanced types of ammunition were not yet available, but the results of the "old stuff" speaks for itself. These are real stopping power statistics results from the street in the handgun caliber's most often used by law enforcement personnel.

In the .40 S&W section, you will see that many of the older bullet designs still had real world stop percentages in the 90% plus range. In fact, the 40 S&W shows real world stop percentages that beat the venerable .45 ACP.

I always try to choose the most advanced and proven cartridge available, but I'm pretty sure that a 300 pound crack-head will be just as dead with a Hydra-Shok from the 1990's as from a HST today.